Community Gardening for Active Citizenship: Initial Report P. J. Frable 1 ND RN & L. Dart 2 PhD RD LD Texas Christian University, 1 Harris College of Nursing.

Community Gardening for Active Citizenship: Initial Report

P. J. Frable1 ND RN & L. Dart2 PhD RD LDTexas Christian University,

1Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences 2Department of Nutritional Sciences

Objectives

Describe service learning as a teaching strategy to enhance practicum learning experience

Describe a community based participatory research, service learning initiative for fostering the citizenship model of “agent for social justice” and civic literacy skills among public health nursing students

Background

Inadequate physical activity, inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, and food insecurity are associated with overweight and obesity

Adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables

Daily moderate to vigorous physical activity along with strength building several times weekly

Food security: adequate quality and quantity of calories for their activities of daily living

Logic Model:Community Gardening for Active Citizenship

2

1

3

4

In Community Gardening

for Active Citizenship,

community based participatory research serves as the catalyst that helps civic engagement and service

learning create social capital

Community Gardens

Peer-reviewed literature limited, but suggests community gardens Increase access to and consumption of fruits

and vegetable Improve food security Increase physical activity, especially strength

building activity Alter community spaces in positive ways Create social capital Help people develop job-related skills

Community Gardening and Public Health

Community gardening process offers numerous opportunities to develop skills including the four civic literacy skills Collective decision making Communication Critical thinking Organization

Community gardening offers opportunities for students to utilize the standards of public health nursing practice (ANA, 2007)

Program Description

Tarrant County Resource Connection (RC)

Mission: Provide employment, education, health and human services in a single environment that allows County citizens to efficiently utilize resources that promote self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and wellness

Unique public private collaboration operating as self-supporting entity of County government

Tarrant CountyMaster Gardeners Association (MGA)

Non-profit organization with 325 active, certified members

Part of Texas AgriLife (Texas Cooperative Extension)

Requires minimum of 50 hours of instruction plus 50 volunteer hours in first year after course work

Two Master Gardeners serve as main consultants and contacts for this project

Demonstration Community Garden

“dedicated to the creation and maintenance of a gardening environment designed to improve the health and quality of life for persons of all ages and abilities through education and the application of current horticultural practices.” RC contributed 2 acres, ongoing grounds crew, water,

and security support MGA contributed garden expertise, volunteer labor,

supplies (plants, soil, greenhouse, materials for beds)

Demonstration Community Garden

RC and MGA collaborate. Landscape plan developed. 2005

RC and MGA formally commit to initiate project 2006

TCU Nursing and Nutritional Sciences faculty initiate relationship with Garden partners

2006, Fall

Nursing and Nutritional Sciences students begin participation in project

2007, Spring

Students continue participation. Collaborate with Nash Elementary to establish School Community Garden and Composting Project

2007, Fall

Nursing and Nutritional Sciences students engage in Garden Outreach initiatives

2008, Spring

Nursing Courses

Community Health Nursing Practicum Senior II BSN students Eleven to 12 weeks, one practicum day per week Spring and Fall 2007

Public Health Nursing rotation, Reflective Practice III Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Track students Spring 2008, 9 practicum days completed in one month

Both courses Population focused Interventions dependent on faculty and student actions

Nutritional Sciences Courses

Supervised Practice in General Dietetics Junior Coordinated Program in Dietetics students Six weeks, 10-12 hours each week Fall 2007

Supervised Practice in Community Nutrition Senior Coordinated Program in Dietetics students Seven weeks, 10-12 hours each week Spring 2007 and 2008

Spring 2007

Nursing and Nutritional Sciences students help establish garden Build beds, establish rose berm, move soil, help

with rain water harvesting system

Nursing students plan and implement Opening Day event to promote garden

Nutritional Sciences students complete initial outreach for Tarrant Area Food Bank, WIC, and Senior Citizen Services

Fall 2007

Nursing and Nutritional Sciences students complete Community Gardener certification, curriculum designed by MGA, in consultation with TCU faculty, specifically for TCU students

Nursing students implement “Build Day”, working with school children to build three raised beds and establish composting program

Nutritional Sciences students follow nursing students, providing classroom education on healthful eating and building additional beds

Spring 2008 - Nursing

Two student sections completed Community Gardening certification

Lessons Soil composition, fertilizers, mulching and watering Rain water harvesting Composting Plant propagation Native plants Entomology

Spring 2008:Demonstration Garden Cohort Contributed to garden infrastructure: composting,

planting, building 3 new beds

Engaged pregnant and parenting adolescents in adopting 4 beds, planting flowers and vegetables, and walking to garden regularly

Connected Senior Citizen Service clients with MGA for container gardening classes

Established initial outreach with MHMR and Veterans Affairs

Provided in-service on therapeutic and enabling gardens for MGA interns building enabling garden

Spring 2008:Nash Elementary School Cohort Planned, implemented, evaluated and

documented Science and Gardening Fair for 4th and 5th grade students and their families Assisted in teaching 5th grade science to help prepare

students for TAKS and build relationships with students

Five learning stations at fair Digestive system Water cycle and soil composition Plant propagation Photosynthesis and fruit and veggie critters Tasting garden products and making better food

choices

You Are What You Eat Science and Gardening Fair

You Are What You Eat Science and Gardening Fair

Results

Research Questions

How effective is community gardening for fostering civic skills in collective decision making, communication, critical thinking, and organization?

Does engagement of students as partners in CBPR promote their development as active citizens?

How effective is the partnership among TCU faculty, TCU students, and the Demonstration Garden in achieving study objectives?

Evaluation Plan

Journey Mapping event maps (Nutrition) and journals (Nursing), 2007

Students’ meeting course objectivesFaculty – student conferencesAction plan progressCDC Framework for Program Evaluation

in Public Health, Donabedian’s Structure – Process – Outcome framework, ecological framework, and CBPR principles

Service Learning Results - Students

Met course objectives

Applied learning to personal lives

Contributed to community-identified needs at Demonstration Garden and Nash Elementary School

Traditional Track (2007) had more difficulty in understanding community gardening as mechanism for promoting public health than Accelerated (2008) Status of garden and CBPR

relationship may contribute to this

Civic Literacy Results - Students

Participation increased nursing students’ awareness of civic literacy skills and self-reported assessment of these skills

Fall 2007 students wrote Chancellor about ways TCU campus could incorporate rain water harvesting and composting

Spring 2008 students provided greatest outreach and response to community partners

Journey Mapping Journals Fall 2007To what degree do you have mastery of these skills?

% Competent

Oct 07

% Not Applicable

Oct 07

% Competent

Nov 07

Think constructively about how to improve political/civic life 20 50 70

Listen, judge, discuss, confer, and act to improve political/civic life

10 50 70

Work as a team 30 70 100

Explain, analyze, and synthesize information about political/civic life

30 40 80

Understand perspectives of others in the community 40 60 80

Build cooperative relationships/Interact with others to promote personal and common interest/Achieve compromise

20 70 90

Evaluate, take, defend positions on public events and issues 20 50 90

Identify and solve problems in context of conflict 30 50 80

Take on real responsibilities and challenging tasks 40 60 80

Civic Literacy Results - Faculty

Made connections between public health nursing and civic literacy more visible

Facilitated more conversations with students about social justice, U.S. history and law, and American (US) narratives past and present

Included guest lecture on Constitution in companion Concepts course

Community Based Participatory Research Results

The community-campus partnership developed for this project seems just now ready to begin serious dialogue about research opportunities Educate partners about value of the research

component and encourage their participation Recruit Texas AgriLife as a partner Facilitate nursing students’

interest in participating as research partners

Future Directions

Next Steps

Formalize CBPR relationship

Proposal writing

Continue to support outreach activities at Demonstration Garden and Nash Elementary School

Thanks to Our Community Partners

Tarrant County Resource Connection Tarrant County Master Gardeners Nash Elementary School Senior II Nursing Students in the Community

Health Nursing Practicum, Spring 2007 and Fall 2008

Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Students in the Public Health Nursing rotation, Spring 2008

Junior and Senior students in Coordinated Program in Dietetics

Acknowledgement of Funding Sources

Center for Civic Literacy, Texas Christian University

Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, Texas Christian University

Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas Christian University (in-kind support)

For more information contact

Pamela Jean Frable ND RN Associate Professor, Nursing

Harris College of Nursing and Health SciencesTexas Christian University

[email protected]

Lyn Dart PhD RD LD Associate Professor

Department of Nutritional Sciences Texas Christian University

[email protected]

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